BOULDER — The floor’s yours, Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre told the four senior co-captains. This was the Thursday before the Buffaloes’ final home game of the season, against Southern California on Nov. 23, and Derrick Webb, the senior linebacker from Memphis, took his turn at the front of the team auditorium in the Dal Ward Center.

Webb told his teammates how much they meant to him, “putting it all out there in my senior year,” and thanked them for all the work they had put in, both in the offseason and during the season. He told them how he would like it to end –with two victories, against USC that Saturday and then against Utah on the road, plus a possible bowl game. He said the one thing he could be certain of was the Buffs would play their hearts out in the final regular-season games.

Meanwhile, in Memphis, his mother, Felicia Morris, was preparing to be part of a family junket to Boulder for the Senior Day ceremony. The traveling party would include her husband, Billy Morris; and her father and Derrick’s grandfather, Harold Scott, struggling physically and usually wheelchair-bound in his 70s.

As Derrick’s father figure for most of his life, Scott wanted to be there. “He’s already packed,” Felicia said from Memphis. “He’s called me about 15 times. He asked me, ‘What do you think I’m going to need? I think I’m going to bring my thermos, can I bring my thermos?’ I said that would be OK.”

Derrick Webb’s college football career at CU, which spanned three head coaching tenures and included few wins, was not particularly “glorious” when judged with conventional standards. But what of this standard? His mother already had seen her son walk across the stage on the Folsom Field turf the previous May to receive his bachelor’s degree in communications, and Derrick indisputably had gotten much out of the college and college football experience.

“I’m so proud I’m speechless,” Morris said. “Words can’t explain how proud I am of my son. I just glow every time I look at him.”

This does not have a storybook ending. The Buffaloes lost those final two games and finished 4-8. Webb’s 2013 season and his college football career were over. But he walked away proud of his play and even more so, his attitude.

The captain’s C. University of Colorado

SETTING THE STAGE

In late August, during the first week of the CU fall semester, the Buffs’ annual Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado State in Denver was four days away. Webb came off the practice field and squinting in the late summer sunlight, looked ahead. “This is a lot of emotion, going into my last year,” he said. “I can’t let my emotions take over too much and do something crazy with the new rules about head contact. I have to be smart.”

For the second consecutive season, Webb was a Buffaloes co-captain. Unimposing physically and listed at 6-foot and 225 pounds, he held his helmet in one hand and wiped sweat from his forehead with the other. He was about to play his first game for MacIntyre, his third head coach.

“I feel like coach MacIntyre came in and gave everybody an equal opportunity,” Webb said. “I had to earn my spot all over again. That was perfectly fine with me. I want to be pushed. I want to be coached. I don’t want anything handed to me.”

In an era of increased emphasis on Academic Progress Rates and “student-athletes” getting or not getting degrees, Webb was ahead of the curve, with his degree already in hand after the May 10 commencement.

“I was so proud and so grateful to see him walk across that stage,” his mother said. “All that help I got to get him to that stage, as a single mother for so long. I was so blessed that he went in the right direction, and that he had that degree.”

In the fall semester, Webb was taking four classes to add hours to his transcript and remain eligible for football – Introduction to Africana Studies; Women, Sport and Culture; Introduction to Theater; and Latino Poetry. “This is Syllabus Week,” he said, “so maybe we’ll get a little more into the work later this week.”

There was little pressure on him academically, given that he already had graduated, but his choice of classes and Outlook both were serious. Reflective and fond of writing, he was pondering a career in music, perhaps songwriting, if he weren’t able to play pro football.

THE PATH TO BOULDER

Felicia Morris was in the Army for five years, stationed around the country and in South Korea. She was at Fort Riley, Kan., when Derrick was born. Later divorced from his father, she left the service, returned to her hometown, Memphis, and has been working as a clerk for the U.S. Postal Service for 15 years.

Derrick had little contact with his father before he died when Derrick was young. “His grandfather’s been there since the beginning,” said Derrick’s mother, who has been married to Billy Morris since 2010. “He’s been with Derrick since he was 6, taking him to games, being on the sidelines, even trying to coach.”

“Football’s always been a big part of my life,” Derrick said. “I started pretty young, and my mom always stressed I had to get good grades to be able to play.” He laughed. “I had a lot of friends and had a lot of fun, and I got a lot of ‘whippins.’ Yeah, you do dumb stuff. If you would get in trouble at school, you would get a spanking. I had a bit of a talking problem in school. I wasn’t a bad student. I just couldn’t keep my mouth closed. If the teacher had to call my mom, that was a spanking.”

As Webb starred at Memphis’ Whitehaven High School, Colorado was among the schools recruiting him, and he also was looking at Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Mississippi. But he seemed ticketed to go to Tennessee until Phillip Fulmer was fired after the 2008 season. The new staff, under Lane Kiffin, backed off, and by then, Webb had mostly closed the doors to other options. But Colorado had stayed in touch and he made an official recruiting visit to Boulder, and then signed a letter of intent with the Buffaloes in February 2009.

“I was nervous about him going being so far away, of course,” his mother said. “The coaches told me they would take care of him like he was their own son. I got to know Coach (Dan) Hawkins, and I liked him.”

Webb redshirted in 2009. “That was tough because I wanted to play and I wanted to be the youngest player on the field,” he said. “But I was able to get a lot stronger and if I had played as a (true) freshman, I wouldn’t have gotten the experience of playing every down because of the number of seniors we had on that team.”

He played in seven games as a redshirt freshman in 2010, when Hawkins was fired late in the season and eventually replaced by Jon Embree. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Dan Hawkins,” Webb said. “I really liked coach Embree, too. It was like he was my father or my uncle. He came in, worked us really hard and a lot of the players, players I knew, left or were dismissed from the program. He was trying to set a standard and change the culture around here. It was a new challenge.”

Webb was a starter in Embree’s two seasons, when the Buffs went 3-10 and 1-11, and he led the beleaguered ‘12 Buffs in tackles. The defense was statistically awful, but Webb drew high marks for playing on and remaining as upbeat as possible as the losses mounted. “I was so used to being competitive and when I was in football games that aren’t competitive, it’s tough,” he said. “You don’t want to be embarrassed, but we were. Colorado has such a great tradition, and I felt like we weren’t doing enough.”

The revolving door spun, and in came MacIntyre, the veteran college and NFL assistant who had managed a three-season turnaround in his first crack at head coaching at San Jose State.

In the Colorado State game. University of Colorado

GETTING STARTED

In the opener, the Buffs beat Colorado State 41-27 in Denver. The difference was CU junior quarterback Connor Wood’s two long touchdown passes to junior wide receiver Paul Richardson, making a triumphant return after missing the entire 2012 season following knee surgery. But the defense did its part and also accounted for a touchdown on defensive back Greg Henderson’s 53-yard fumble return.

“We played some great football, made some plays in the clutch,” Webb said. “As long as I’ve been here, I can’t remember too many games where I felt like we won it on defense. I mean in the clutch moments where you need plays, you make plays. We made the plays (against CSU), and we even had a score on defense, so that was exciting.”

Making a tackle against Central Arkansas. Karl Gehring, Denver Post.

The next week, Colorado overcame FCS Central Arkansas 38-24 at Folsom Field. Webb was in a total of 19 tackles in the first two games, and he was playing next to true freshman middle linebacker Addison Gillam, who looked like a future star in the first two weeks. And suddenly, the Buffs were 2-0.

“It’s been a tough last few seasons and the seniors feel like we own it to ourselves to go out and be competitive and leave a winning legacy after all we’ve been through,” Webb said. “It feels good to win in front of the home crowd and it feels good to be 2-0.”

The floods hit Boulder late the next week, and the Buffs got word at a Sept. 13 team meeting that the Fresno State game the next day was at least postponed. (Ultimately, it would be canceled.) “We were getting ready to go to the hotel when they told us,” Webb said. “We were shocked, but we know that other things were more important.” Webb personally was unaffected, given that he lived to the south and east of campus, in the Broker Inn on Baseline Road next to the famous off-campus restaurant/bar, the Dark Horse.

Once known as a top hotel in the area, the Broker Inn now also is used for student accommodations, similar to the Regency complex’s role in Denver for the Auraria Complex. Roughly a half-dozen players were living there during the 2013 season. Webb had a 1986 Grand Marquis back home in Memphis, but decided not to bring it to Boulder with him. To get around, he either walked, got rides, or borrowed a car.

Webb lived alone in his single room, and, yes, it looked like a conventional dorm room — a bed, a dresser, a study desk, a tiny closet that didn’t come close to having enough room for his clothes, which were strewn around the room. The walls were bare. The terms of his athletic scholarship cover the monthly rent payments, but as noted during the debates over whether college football players should be additionally paid, there’s not a lot of pocket money involved.

“I sometimes have a hard time at the end of the month,” Webb said. “Things can come up. Some guys who have cars have to get them fixed, things like that. You have a set amount set aside for food, rent, cell phone bills, all that. One time I got a ticket and I was really struggling at the end of the month because I had to pay for it. A little extra money would make the situation better, maybe give me a little more freedom, maybe do a little more outside the basic essentials. Like taking a girl out on a date. Like taking yourself out to eat once in a while.”

The Buffs finally were back in action on Oct. 7, and the bubble burst in a 44-17 loss to the Beavers at Corvallis. It was 10-3 late in the first half, but the Beavers scored on their final drive of the first half and then on the first possession after the intermission to take control. “I really think it came down to three or four plays both ways,” Webb said. “At least that should have been a fourth-quarter game.”

Next up were the powerful, high-octane Oregon Ducks, back at Folsom. “I’m very excited about it,” he said during the game week. “Oregon’s a great team, and I hope they get the best from us.” At the team’s Broomfield hotel that Friday night, Webb was with his usual roommate, freshman linebacker Kenneth Olugbode, his backup on the depth chart. They tested each other on the defensive game plan, and then Olugbode set up his laptop and watched his San Jose high school, Bellarmine Prep, play via live streaming. They compared notes about their high school football experiences, and Webb felt old, realizing Olugbode was talking about the previous fall, while Webb was talking about 2008.

The next night, Oregon romped. The Buffs led 3-0 and 10-8, but the Ducks stormed back behind quarterback Marcus Mariota and were up 43-16 at the half and 57-16 after three quarters before coasting through a scoreless fourth quarter. The scary thing was that it would have been unfair to say the Buffs didn’t play well. They hung in there, but that’s how wide the talent gap was.

“I’m proud of the effort,” Webb said. He made eight tackles and was angry at himself for dropping a potential interception early, when he was coming up to play an anticipated screen — the blocking set up that way — and Mariota inexplicably threw the ball in his direction instead. “I was trying to get inside of the blocker and position myself to make a tackle, and the ball hit me right in the stomach,” he said, shaking his head. He did recover a fumble later in the game. “I made sure I got that one,” he said.

MAKING THE GRADES

Under MacIntyre, the Buffaloes’ routine was in line with an increasingly popular college football trend, with early morning meetings, as soon as 7 a.m., and then practice on lower campus fields down the hill and across Boulder Creek from the Dal Ward Center. After that, the players in theory were done with football for the day and head off to classes. Especially because of the flexibility and freedom tied to his graduation, Webb was able to build his schedule with his earliest class starting at 12:15 p.m. — Introduction to Theater on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Latino Poetry following at 5:15. On Mondays, he had the Africana Studies class at 2 and the women in sports class at 3.

On the Monday after the Oregon game — the NCAA-enforced day off for players after film study and a “correction” practice on Sunday — the small second-floor auditorium in the Clare Small Arts and Sciences Building was standing-room-only for instructor Martin Atuire’s Africana Studies course. He opened with a welcome to his “brothers and sisters,” then went through an African dialect greeting and response with his students that seemed to be an entrenched routine by the second months of classes for his diverse group.

Webb sat on an aisle about halfway back and signed the roll-call sheet as it made the rounds. Scrawling across the blackboard, Atuire lectured, then showed a video and led a discussion about enslavement in the Americas. “That’s your history, your ancestry,” Webb said after class. “The whole point of that film was to remember your past. It’s pretty empowering to know of the people who endured so much.”

In the Duane Physics and Astrophysics Building basement, instructor Jenny Lind Withycombe, still a competitive rower and an acknowledged expert on women’s sports social issues with a doctorate in sports psychology, discussed the imbalance in coverage of men’s and women’s sports. She also showed a video, “Playing Unfair: The Media Image of the Female Athlete.”

The give-and-take among the students was spirited, and Webb joined in. At the end, Withycombe reminded them that they had an assignment due soon — to interview a female athlete and turn in the transcript. Derrick said his plan was to speak with his sister, BreAnna, who lives in Maryland and had just started skating on a roller derby team.

In his Tuesday classes, he was preparing to take part in a brief play in Theater class and learning about Latino poets.

On Oct. 12, Webb had seven tackles as the Buffs lost their third straight, to Arizona State 54-13 in what was their worst performance of the season. They were down 47-6 at halftime, and the final score could have been a lot worse. MacIntyre and his staff seemed to demonstrate that they would start looking to the future, and not just with the much-discussed move at quarterback, demoting Connor Wood and removing true freshman Sefo Liufau’s redshirt to install him as the starter.

The good news: Webb had finished his interview with BreAnna for Withycombe’s class. “I asked her about the whole experience of roller derby, how she prepares and whether she’d recommend it to other female athletes,” he said. “We talked about the double standard of women competing in physical sports.”

The bad news: Webb was on the field for only 25 plays as the Buffs beat Charleston Southern, the FCS replacement for Fresno State on the schedule, 43-10. Some of that was an attempt to get more players experience, but the Buffs also increasingly were experimenting with different packages, mainly going with just two linebackers and a nickel back. What that meant was that Webb more often was competing with the other outside linebacker starter, junior Woodson Greer III, for playing time.

As the game plan and practice work for Arizona the next week made it clear that Webb wasn’t ticketed to play much that week, either, MacIntyre had him, Wood and senior linebacker Paul Vigo stand at a team meeting. He praised them all for how they were handling reduced playing time and said he was proud of them.

Against Arizona on Oct 26, the Buffs opened on defense with Gillam and Greer at linebacker, and freshman Chidobe Uwuzie at nickel back. Webb was on for only 21 plays from scrimmage in the 44-20 loss. He consciously tried to be animated and supportive on the sideline, speaking with Gillam and Greer.

“The ups and downs,” Webb said the next week, smiling. “All you can do is support the decisions and be there to support the team. I was more disappointed in the outcome of the game than me not seeing more action.”

The next Tuesday, Oct. 29, MacIntyre said Webb would get more work in the practices that week and seemed to signal that Webb’s attitude had helped make the coaches realize the futility and even the unfairness of shunting seniors aside at that point — especially if one of the seniors was a much-respected and liked co-captain. “He’s handled it really well,” MacIntyre said. “He’s been a good leader and it’s fun watching him mature at that stage and working with him on it. This (past) week has been a big test for him and I thought he passed it with flying colors.”

That night, over dinner at the Dark Horse, Webb said he was determined to keep working hard and accept whatever happened. Since he lived next door, it wasn’t surprising that he was familiar with the menu on the wall next to the kitchen window and cash register and knew that wait service is available only during lunch. “I come here for the student deals,” he said. It also was obvious by now that at least during football season, while he isn’t a loner, he mostly hangs out with his teammates at the Dal Ward Center. Plus, it’s both a matter of time – he doesn’t have much – and finances. “Football and school is like 90 percent of my life right now,” he said. “Maybe even more than that.”

REBOUNDING

Back on the field, Webb had probably his best game of the season in a 45-23 loss to UCLA in the Rose Bowl on Nov. 2, getting a team-leading nine tackles. He and Gillam were the linebacker starters, with Awuzie still opening at nickel back. If a 22-point loss could be a moral victory, that was it, since the Buffs — who fell to 3-4 for the season and 0-4 in the Pac 12 — were competitive.

Webb wasn’t sure he was going to be back in the every-down rotation until game-time. “We shared reps,” he said back on campus a few days later. “The way I looked at is was that I had to prepare like I was going to start and be on the field. . . The coaches are going to do what they think is best for the team and I never took it personally.” He enjoyed the experience of playing in Pasadena for the second time in his career. “It’s awesome, everything about it,” he said. “Perfect weather, a great night for football, the field is just like a golf course.”

The next Monday, he felt he aced his Africana Studies midterm and then in the women in sports class mostly listened as Withycombe laid out a convincing argument that women college athletes were treated in condescending fashion in such things as media guides, with emphasis on them wearing something other than athletic garb in pictures, for example. Webb’s classmates included a few CU women athletes. He also felt good that the poem he wrote and read for the Tuesday-Thursday class in Latino Poetry was well-received.

But as this was all going on, he felt the clock winding down on his football career. “I can almost see my whole career flashing before my eyes,” he said. “Coming here as a freshman, all those camps, spring ball, fall camps, all those practices, all those games. And you realize, man, where did it all go?”

Because the NCAA had granted the Buffs a waiver due to the extraordinary circumstances, they could count both wins against FCS teams in the attempt to get to six wins and bowl eligibility, CU still had hope of going to a bowl game. The players, including Webb, spoke of that without a trace of self-consciousness while sensing most outsiders believed there was no way that was going to happen, since it would require three wins in the last four games. “There are a lot of great opportunities left on the field,” Webb said.

On Saturday, Nov. 9, CU’s 59-7 loss at Washington was a reminder of how far the Buffs still had to go to become even a middle-of-the-pack team in the Pac 12. Webb had eight tackles and, despite the result, seemed back in the full-time playing mode. Also, Greer was out with a shoulder injury suffered in practice that week, and it turned out that he was done for the season.

There was hope, though: Similarly downtrodden California, also winless in the conference, was coming into Folsom on Nov. 16. The Buffs beat the Golden Bears 41-24, and Webb and Gillam both had 11 tackles. With blustery winds, the weather was horrible and Webb fought through severe headaches and even declined a chance to go to the interview room to meet with the media after the game. He did consent to a one-on-one interview in the hallway outside the locker room, though. He was in agony.

“It kind of stuck with me,” he said of the headaches, then laughed darkly. “It’s still sticking with me. I think it was the cold and the wind blowing, more than anything. It wasn’t to the extent that I couldn’t play. I pulled myself through. These are the last three games of my career, and everybody out there was having so much fun, making plays on defense, doing their job, hitting on all cylinders.”

Derrick’s family awaits his arrival on the field during pregame Senior Day ceremony. Kathryn Scott Osler, Denver Post

SENIOR DAY AND FAMILY

Webb had one home game remaining – the Senior Day matchup with Southern California. The Buffs were planning on honoring 15 seniors, including six starters on offense and defense. On the defensive side of the ball, Webb was joined by safety Parker Orms, from Wheat Ridge, and end Chidera Uzo-Diribe.

On the Tuesday of game week, Webb talked about the upcoming weekend over dinner at Moe’s Original Bar B Que, on the other side of the Broker Inn. When he walked in, he waved to the crew in the kitchen, and the young woman in the Chicago Blackhawks T-shirt — the Avalanche was meeting “her” team that night in Denver — didn’t have to ask his name to put it onto the order. This quest for good barbeque is a big deal for Webb, and even more so for his mother, felicia. (”Moe’s?” she would ask later in the week. “OK, that’s pretty good.”)

“I’m excited about senior day for a couple of reasons,” Derrick said. “Number one, my family is coming out to see me for my final home game as a Buff. Two, it’s special because my grandfather (Harold Scott) is coming out here for his first Colorado game. He’s just been a huge inspiration for me, the biggest father figure for me in my life. He always was the disciplinarian, kept my head on straight and kept me in football.”

The family delegation flew into DIA on Friday, but was late enough to prevent Derrick from seeing everyone before he went to the team hotel. Then Saturday night, when it was his turn as the seniors were introduced, he ran into the field and handed flowers to his mother and greeted Harold Scott, in his wheelchair, plus BreAnna, her fiancee and her young son; Derrick’s stepfather, Billy Morris; and his uncle, Kevin Scott. “Leading up to it, I thought I was going to cry during the ceremony,” Derrick said later. “But when I was out there, it was all about being happy and proud, all smiles, not about tears.”

MacIntyre posed for pictures with Webb’s family and those of the other seniors, and the game was on. The 47-29 loss officially quashed the Buffs’ longshot bowl hopes. Webb spotted his family to the north side of the bench and had a team-high 11 tackles as the Buffs closed to within 40-29 with 3:19 remaining and then failed to recover an onside kick. They were overmatched, but not embarrassed.

Because of the cold, his grandfather had to go to the rental car at halftime. His mother and most of the rest of the family delegation stuck it out.

When it ended, Felicia made her way to the spot where the players would pass on their way to the dressing room. “I thought it was a good game,” she said as she waited. “I was very excited to see my son play. We were very excited to be here and it was great for Derrick to have a chance to play football here and for us to be a part of Buff nation.”

Felicia Morris had seen her son receive his diploma in the same stadium and she had seen him finish his home football career, and did it really matter than in Derrick’s four seasons of competition, his teams had won a total of …

No, in that context, there’s no reason to do the math.

Suddenly, Derrick was leaving the field and approaching the path to the Dal Ward Center. His mother waved and the security guard holding the rope, who previously had been adamant that he couldn’t let Felicia by, found cause to look the other way as she slipped past.

The hug between mother and son was a Kodak moment.

A little later in the interview room, Derrick told the media: “I feel like we left our heart out there today, and that was the most important thing for me.”

The next morning, Webb ate brunch with his family at the Omni Interlocken and then returned to Boulder.

There was one more game to play, at Utah. Looking ahead to that, MacIntyre said of Webb at his Tuesday news Conference: “I almost tear up thinking about it because he is a true, true warrior. I know that word is used a lot but, if you watch him play, he runs and hits. He gives everything he has. After practice and after games he is exhausted. He truly is the kid that you would say empties the bucket. . . We had a little bit there where we made some changes during the season and he came back and he didn’t bat an eye. He played really well the last couple games.”

On Thanksgiving, Webb walked over to the nearby house rented by redshirt freshman defensive lineman De’Jon Wilson, and a group of about seven Buffs had their choice of entrees – baked chicken or fried chicken. The delicacy side dish was macaroni and cheese. “For football players just cooking it up for Thanksgiving, it was actually a pretty good meal,” Webb said.

FINISHING UP

At Salt Lake, the Buffs fell again, 24-17, to Utah, finishing 4-8 overall and 1-8 in the Pac 12. Most frustrating for Webb, he suffered a “stinger” in the left shoulder and neck area about midway through the fourth quarter and had to leave the game. “They had a big, physical running back, and he got low, and I got low,” Webb said a few days later in CU’s University Memorial Center, sitting near the bust of noted cannibal Alferd E. Packer, for whom the student grill is named. “We both met in the backfield and I felt the shock. I’ve had stingers before and I’ve never come out of the game with a stinger. But this was my worst one. I’m fine now, but it took me a little longer to recover.”

He wanted to get back in, but the clock ran out before he could.

“Going into the game, there was less emotion than Senior Day,” he said. “Of course, I knew it was my last game and I knew I wanted to leave it all out there. I was going to play every down like it was my last game. After the game, that’s when the emotions hit.”

Yes, that means tears.

Later, he discovered he had finished the season with 99 tackles, second to Addison Gillam. “I wish I could have stayed in and got one more tackle and got to 100,” he said. “All I can do is laugh about that now.”

In the aftermath of that final game, MacInytre said of Webb: “He’s a great young man. He’s been exceptional ever since I got here and I’m pretty sure he was before I got here. He lifts your spirits. He’s that type of guy. He loves Colorado football and he loves playing football. He’ll have a great future at whatever he does.”

With the season over, Webb confided that one of the reasons he had handled his temporary demotion so well was that he had looked in the mirror after he couldn’t get on the field much as a backup linebacker in his freshman season under Hawkins.

“I feel I was prepared for going through the situation after having gone through it as a freshman,” he said. “I handled it the wrong way then. When I was in meetings or out on the practice field, I would never say anything to my (position) coach, ask any questions. I would sit around as quiet as I could and wouldn’t say anything to anybody. That wasn’t the way to go around handling it.

“When it came back around, I said, ‘I’m not going to get mad at anybody, I’m not going to walk around with a frown and change who I am, and start acting differently toward people.’ Sometimes when you’re mad and angry, you want people to know you’re mad and angry and you give off vibes that you’re mad. I learned from that. I just said, ‘Hey, what can I do to get better?’ It worked better for me this time.”

Webb said he would head home to Memphis after the term ended, then decide where to work out – and with whom to do it – to get ready for CU’s pro timing day during spring practice and hope for a shot in an NFL camp. His best chance is as a special teams ace — he loves playing on special teams — who could fill in on defense, but that’s probably a longshot.

“Coming into college, my two passions were football and music,” he said. “I would write music, rap songs, and I was passionate about it. I had a lot of fun doing that, and it would be a fun profession. But careers like that, along with professional sports, people think of it as a longshot. I give people my Plan A and my Plan B, and they say, ‘You need a Plan C.’ So if it comes to it, I’d like to be a business owner someday and give back to my community in some sort of way.”

Regardless of what he does, the college football experience will be a foundation.

University of Colorado defensive back Parker Orms. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

BOULDER — It will be Senior Day Saturday for Colorado against 23rd-ranked Southern California and it probably won’t hit any player harder than safety Parker Orms.

He’s already warming up. He cried after Colorado’s first Pac-12 win of the year Saturday against California. And Orms didn’t even play.

“I go right up to him after the game,” MacIntyre said at his weekly media luncheon Tuesday. “I shake (Cal coach) Sonny’s (Dykes) hand and I see Parker kind of looking up in the stands. There are tears in his eyes. He’s just so happy that we won. I said, ‘You need to get well so you can play next week.'”

Orms missed the game with a shoulder stinger. He practiced Tuesday but didn’t hit anyone.

BOULDER — Colorado could be without two defensive starters as senior safety Parker Orms and junior linebacker Woodson Greer III are still suffering from stingers in their shoulder area. They both wore baby blue “no-hit” jerseys during Wednesday’s practice.

“We still don’t know,” MacIntyre said after practice. “They had their MRIs. There’s no permanent damage. We have to see if they get their strength back. We’re hoping they get their strength back in the next day or two. If they can’t, they can’t play.”

BOULDER — Colorado safety Parker Orms must progress from the stinger he suffered Saturday at Washington to play this Saturday against California.

“Parker is extremely sore in the shoulder and neck area,” MacIntyre said during his Tuesday media luncheon. “We’ll see how he progresses this week. Hopefully he will. Today he was out there in a baby blue jersey. That means we can’t hit him but he can do everything else. We’ll see how he feels as the week goes. He’s got to get strength back in him. If he doesn’t have the strength back in him he won’t be able to go because in no way, shape or form do we want to put him out there where he can’t protect himself the way he’d like.”

Outside linebacker Woodson Greer III also suffered a stinger at Washington and is questionable.

BOULDER — For those wondering what happened to Colorado safety Parker Orms Saturday after he got thrown out for targeting, it’s the same thing that happens to a baseball manager for arguing. He’s sent to the showers.

He had to sit in an empty locker room for the rest of the first half.

“Then in the second half they finally had a TV room where I could go watch the game,” Orms said. “It was lonely for sure. I was just thinking about what happened.”

TEMPE, Ariz. — Lost in the defensive collapse of Colorado’s 54-13 loss at Arizona State here Saturday night was Colorado safety Parker Orms was ejected for a targeting foul in the second quarter.

Arizona State was leading 34-6 when Taylor Kelly threw a high pass on first down to receiver Chris Coyle. It fell incomplete and Orms hit him late. Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre disagreed with the call.

“Those calls are tough,” MacIntyre said. “The intent was not to get him. He did not lead with his head. You can see that on the replay that I saw on the field. His shoulder hit it. The guy was diving. The ball was bobbling. It wasn’t like he launched.

“The poor kid. I didn’t realize it. I didn’t know they had to send him to the locker room.”

Fortunately for Colorado, because it happened in the first half, Orms only had to sit out the second half. If it happened in the second half, he’d have to sit out the first half Saturday against Charleston Southern.

BOULDER — A couple of new traditions have started under first-year coach Mike MacIntyre. The first is the Sledgehammer Award, given to the player with the best hit. This week’s goes to safety Parker Orms for his upending of Colorado State’s tight end on an incomplete pass in the end zone.

The second is a tool box. Every Thursday, each player stands up and commits something he’s going to do in the game for the team.

BOULDER — Colorado may miss two returning players for the 2013 season because of concussions, new coach Mike MacIntyre said Wednesday.

“I have a couple young men who will probably have to medical,” MacIntyre said. “We’re in the process of getting more tests and seeing how they come through on everything. The doctors are letting me know on all that. That’s serious business. If there’s any doubt in my mind, I don’t care how good the player is I’m not putting him out there.”

MacIntyre wouldn’t name the players but four players who had concussions the week of the season finale against Utah were sophomore-to-be tight end Vincent Hobbs, senior safety Parker Orms, sophomore tailback Christian Powell and junior quarterack Nick Hirschman.

MacIntyre said it was not Orms, and Hirschman was cleared to play against Utah. Powell, Colorado’s leading rusher at 691 yards, did not play.

BOULDER — Junior safety Parker Orms has a concussion and Colorado coach Jon Embree will be wary with his use in preparation for Saturday’s home game against Stanford.

“I don’t know where he’s at with that,” Embree said on Tuesday’s Pac-12 Conference call. “We’re obviously going to be cautious with him the rest of the way before releasing him back out there. Don’t know his high school history.”

The University of Colorado football team takes on Colorado State University for the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012.

I caught up with Colorado’s true freshman cornerback, Kenneth Crawley, for the first time since some veterans questioned younger defensive backs’ study habits. Parker Orms and Ray Polk didn’t name names — except themselves, whom they admitted have also made mistakes — but Crawley is the most prominent true freshman in the secondary.

He got beat twice for touchdowns by USC’s Robert Woods in Saturday’s 50-6 loss to the Trojans. Colorado coach Jon Embree talked to Orms and Polk about the comments. Sounds like Crawley wanted to talk to them, too. He said he doesn’t agree with them.

“No, absolutely not,” Crawley said. “I have no idea what other people do. Some people have their own study habits. We have school. That probably interferes with study time and film but that’s not right. It’s not right.”

BOULDER — Participating in Colorado’s weekly media luncheon, Buffs junior safety Parker Orms was asked about the psyche of the team considering the 1-5 start.

“We have a lot of guys that are discouraged,” Orms replied. “But we have the coaches that are pushing us every week. … ‘Why did you come to Colorado? What does the fight song mean to you? What do those words, fight, fight (pause) fight, fight fight mean to you?’

“Some guys are going to get that. Some guys it’s going to go in one ear and out the other. They’re thinking about their future. I try to tell the freshmen that it goes fast. You never know if you’re going to play next season or when your career is going to end.

“The first half of the season didn’t go well,” Orms added. “But we have six more games left. You can either try to turn that around or you can just give up.”

When a Buffs safety draws the responsibility of covering UCLA’s senior tight end Joseph Fauria, the size differential might resemble a team manager trying to check a power forward. Fauria, newphew of former CU standout Christian Fauria, is 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds.

BOULDER — The Colorado defense can’t dwell on those back-breaking plays by Fresno State that went nearly the length of the field, CU junior safety Parker Orms said.

Within a span of less than two minutes of the first quarter, Fresno State exploded for a 97-yard pass play and 94-yard run. That marked the first time in 123 years of Colorado football that a CU team had allowed two plays of 80 yards or longer in the same game.

Colorado (0-3) plays Saturday at Washington State (2-1) in the Pac-12 opener for both teams.

“What happened last week, we just have to forget about it,” Orms told me. “Those are plays that just, it’s kind of crazy how that happens.

“A guy trips on somebody. Or a guy comes up and he’s supposed to be in a different coverage, things like that. We can’t let stuff like that happen.”

BOULDER — Members of the Colorado booster club were invited to the CU media luncheon Tuesday and then, after reporters had completed their work, the boosters were afforded a few minutes for their own questions.

Following up on a previous question by a reporter about the 15-yard targeting call against CU safety Parker Orms in the third quarter of the season-opening loss to Colorado State, a Buffs booster asked Embree if he thought the play should have been ruled a penalty.

BOULDER — Third in a series of Colorado’s top 5 players in different categories, this time the top 5 as keys to the defense. Reporters were prohibited from watching practices, so these lists were developed after interviewing dozens of players and coaches during fall camp.

Colorado’s Top 5 as keys to the defense:

1. Free safety Ray Polk — The senior must direct traffic in a secondary that has four true freshmen in its two-deep, including starting left cornerback Kenneth Crawley. A three-year starter, Polk (6-1, 205) eagerly took on that task and spent additional time in the film room during the offseason so he could learn the responsibilities of every position in the secondary, including the nickel-back and dime-back.

2. Defensive end Chidera Uzo-Diribe — Quarterbacks in the pass-happy Pac-12 will pick you apart when they have time. The Buffs absolutely, positively need a big junior year from Uzo-Diribe (6-3, 250), their best pass rusher.

3. Linebacker Doug Rippy — Before being felled last fall by a knee injury, the senior from Ohio was CU’s best defensive player. If he hasn’t lost a step or any aggressiveness, his return will be huge for the Buffs.

4. Cornerback Greg Henderson — After earning a starting job last season as a rookie, it’s imperative that the 5-11, 185-pounder have an even more consistent season year as a sophomore. If Henderson can be a shut-down corner on the right side, it will enable CU safeties to help out true freshman Kenneth Crawley on the left size.

5. Defensive tackle Will Pericak — The Boulder native, perhaps best known for the odd “Pre-check” pronunciation of his last name, has been solid throughout his career. Colorado needs him to take the next step and be spectacular. If Pac-12 teams find they can run the ball on the Buffs, it opens up infinite options in the passing game. That’s trouble.

BOULDER — Growing up in Phoenix, Colorado senior free safety Ray Polk didn’t know much of anything about the Colorado vs. Colorado State rivalry. But the fifth-year player has grown to understand and appreciate it.

“We definitely take the game seriously,” Polk told me after a recent practice. “It’s a big game, a big game every year. We know they’re going to come out swinging, so we just have to fight back.”

BOULDER — Considering that Colorado ranked last in pass-efficiency defense among Pac-12 teams in 2011, it came as no surprise that signing defensive backs was a priority during recruiting.

In February, the Buffs landed five high school DBs. Four of the five may help immediately, with John Walker of Washington D.C., having to wait until 2013 because a finger injury early in August camp required surgery and he likely will redshirt this season.

From speaking with coaches (practices are closed to the public, including the media), it appears the two most highly regarded of the signees, Yuri Wright and Kenneth Crawley, are living up to their billing.

Colorado safety Parker Orms, the junior-to-be from Wheat Ridge, told me Thursday that this week he was cleared to begin “re-habbing” the hamstring problem that caused him to miss most of spring drills.

“It’s doing good,” Orms said. “There isn’t too much pain. Actually, it’s more sore in other places, like my hips, because I hadn’t been working out.”

A former high school standout, Orms has been dogged by injuries at Colorado. He suffered a season-ending knee injury on his first series as a college player, as a redshirt freshman against Colorado State. A hamstring injury limited him to six games last fall.

Orms said he hopes to be ready for full-speed work well before the start of August drills.

“We want to take it slow,” he said. “(Medical personnel) think one of the problems last year was rushing it too fast. Every time I feel like I’m ready to start (to have a breakout season), I get hurt and go backwards. But I’m using that as motivation. I want to finish my career at full strength.”

CU defensive coordinator Greg Brown told me a couple of weeks ago that Orms, if fully recovered, will be a strong contender for a starting job.

“He’s a winner,” Brown said. “In the games he played last season, we either won or had a chance to win. He can do so many things on the field. We figured out that we could do more things (regarding defensive calls) with Parker in there.”

Told of Brown’s comments, Orms said, “That’s good to hear that Coach Brown is behind me. I want to prove him right. And people that have given up on me, I want to prove them wrong.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.